This statement, from a father to his twop children (6 & 7yo) was overheard by a member of a group frequented by one of our members, and posted to that group for discussion. The situation was that a man had been left by his partner. They have three children between them and the woman had taken the youngest with her, leaving him with a son and daughter to raise by himself. He had no money, his meters were eating into emergency credit and he was having to eat at a friend’s house that evening to try and spare as much of that emergency credit as he could by avoiding having the heating on all evening. Add to that, that his benefits claim, due to change of circumstances, was expected to take 10 weeks!! to complete. He was due a payment of ESA within a couple of days but, until he can sort out a residency order pertaining to the children, he is stuck with having to pay £125 of that in rent. After clearing a couple of minor debts, caused by the unfolding separation situation, he was expecting to be left with maybe £40, which would have had to go onto the fuel meters. He had been given a food parcel by the local food bank and a couple of what can only be described as truly wonderful friends had been cooking dinners for the family.
A friend of the group member had been to the pound shop to pick up a couple of low-cost presents so the chap would have something to give to his children on Christmas morning.
We decided that this family needed a Christmas “Biscuit Boost” and so we sent some cash winging the father’s way. With this, he can get his debts out of the way, give those pesky meters a seriously good feeding, stock up his cupboards and still have money left to buy Christmas gifts for his children.
A highly satisfying job well and truly #jobbed!